564 / 736
had changed. They had acquired considerable
bargaining powers with third countries. They were
a part of the first major commercial world power,
and had shown greater political independence of
the super-great powers during the sixties.
Also, the Communities were obliged to start a
foreign policy while exercising their powers. Very
few aspects of international trade were not subject
to political options, and the Communities had to
make choices which were seldom purely economic
—such as adopting a stand inside international
economic organisations.
Dr. Gaudet said that the influence of the Com
munities on foreign policy was so great that it
would be advisable to recognise it and to study
the consequences of it. Economic integration had
reached the point where the Communities did in
fact make decisions on foreign policy and it would
be better to replace the present timid and danger
ous empiricism with proper structures.
On neutrality, and Sweden in particular, Dr.
Gaudet said that was a problem only the Swedes
could answer. In his view the problem was also
one of the analysis of the consequences of econo
mic integration on neutrality.
Throughout the conference there were remin
ders that however slow the progress towards poli
tical union,
the degree of
integration already
involved is immense. Dr. Arved Deringer, of Ger
many, speaking on community legislation quoted
from a Sinn Fein pamphlet handed out by demon
strators on the day when Mr. Lynch opened the
conference. The pamphlet said Ireland should
remain a nation, and not become a province.
These young people, said Dr. Deringer, had the
right idea; it was better to think in terms of a
federation, not of an international agreement when
discussing the Communities.
The background paper on the agricultural dis
cussion was prepared by Mr. M. J. Mclnerney,
lecturer in the Department of Applied Economics,
U.C.D. In his lengthy and detailed paper, which
received much praise from later speakers, Mr.
Mclnerney dealt with many aspects of
Irish
agriculture.
He said that the initial impact of E.E.C. mem
bership for Ireland will be similar to that of a
major trade agreement. "Experience of recent
trade agreements," he said, "has shown that the
countervailing power of
stronger nations has
reduced the benefits of these agreements. It is to
be hoped that E.E.C. membership and the benefits
that accrue from it, will not depend solely on the
negotiating power of the applicants."
Mr. Mclnerney said that the effective adminis
tration of the Community Agricultural Policy will
require close co-operation between
the British,
Irish and Northern Ireland governments. This, he
said, will also be true as far as the harmonisation
of agricultural legislation
is concerned.
"An important feature of an expanded Com
munity Agricultural Policy in these islands will be
the close co-operation of respective agricultural
marketing boards and intervention agencies in the
different commodity groups," said Mr. Mclnerney.
"This is of particular relevance to the agricultural
trade with Northern Ireland. The Republic of
Ireland has a very substantial import and export
trade in agricultural products to the North of
Ireland, importing some £9m. worth of agricul
tural commodities
in both directions over
the
Border and whose future under E.E.C. would be
finally legal."
Professor Louis Smith, University College, Dub
lin, said that productivity in agriculture had been
going up twice as much per head as industry or
any other sector of the community. He said there
was a tendency to over-produce. However, it was
not easy for farming people to change to other
occupations. Over-production and low incomes in
agriculture were some of the things that States try
to remedy. Governments intervene more and more
and as a result divergent legislation comes into
operation. There was a need to achieve harmon
isation between government legislation and law.
Professor Smith said he had dealt mostly with
the economic aspect of agriculture in his paper
because he felt that the legal side was governed
by that. He asked how were they going to get
harmonisation between the two aspects? "It is
going to be a major job," he said.
Dr. Frederick Macs, Senior Research Officer in
European Law, British Institute of International
and Comparative Law, who dealt mostly with
marketing in his paper, said that there was a view
widely held in the Community and in Britain, that
people concerned with British agriculture and
the E.E.C. either belonged in the Common Market
Safeguards Campaign or were die-hard opponents
of British entry. This was not necessarily so, he
said. He sincerely hoped it would be possible for
the U.K., together with the other candidate coun
tries, to become part of a dynamic and expanding
community. He believed that agriculture would be
one of the major topics for discussion at the next
round of negotiations. One should set one's sights
higher, and one should not forget such other rele
vant topics as European economics, monetary and
108